LouFest 2016 lineup announced

Staff report

Published
8:28 pm CDT, Wednesday, May 25, 2016

ST. LOUIS — The LouFest 2016 lineup has been announced, featuring the festival’s signature diversity of indie rock, R&B, Americana, blues and country music’s chart topping acts — all wrapped in a customized St. Louis experience.

The diverse festival will feature the first ever St. Louis performance by recently reunited electronica rock band LCD Soundsystem. Also appearing is country superstar ACM award-winner Chris Stapleton and Grammy Award-winning music legend Ms. Lauryn Hill.

LouFest, held Sept. 10 through Sept. 11, in Forest Park, is produced locally, bringing trending global talent from several genres together in a two-day festival environment.

“2016 is a landmark year for us as we deliver another top lineup and feature St. Louis as the host city for the more than 50,000 festival attendees,” said Mike Van Hee, partner with Listen Live Entertainment, the producers of LouFest. “Our concertgoers have shown an intense desire to see the very best in global entertainment here, and Forest Park offers the perfect venue to host a distinctly St. Louis event.”

LouFest 2016 will reflect the rising popularity of the 7-year-old event with expansion and growth — including increased customer engagement and interaction with sponsors, a larger LouKidz area, an enhanced Nosh Pit featuring the region’s top chefs, and expanded beer tasting experiences. Festivals across the world are immensely popular, with Nielsen Music estimating that 32 million people will attend at least one U.S. music festival this year, 46 percent of whom are millennials ages 18-34.

“This event is a great way for us to show off the Lou in LouFest,” said Francis G. Slay, Mayor of the city of St. Louis. “The city is excited to share our talented chefs, musicians and Forest Park landmarks with guests traveling from all over the country to enjoy the very best of what St. Louis has to offer.”

In addition to enhancements to the consumer experience, LouFest 2016 will continue its commitment to sustainability through the Rock n Recycle program, expanded refillable water stations, expanded shuttle service with Metro and a new partnership with UBER.

“This 2016 lineup also includes more St. Louis-based artists than we’ve been able to do in the past,” said Rich Toma, also a partner with Listen Live Entertainment. “We’ve definitely made a concerted effort to showcase this amazing homegrown talent — it’s no secret that St. Louis has a nationally recognized music scene with many emerging and established artists representing a wide range of genres. We’re really looking forward to seeing these artists up on the LouFest stages.”

LouFest was founded in 2010 and will be celebrating its seventh year in St. Louis’ Forest Park. With steady growth in attendance each year, the festival continues as one of the city’s largest summer events. Featuring past acts such as Outkast, The Avett Brothers, The Killers, Billy Idol, Wilco, Arctic Monkeys, and Ludacris, the festival attracts a diverse variety of music acts and genres, spanning rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop, soul, funk, alt-country, folk and jam. In addition to the music experience, LouFest highlights top restaurants in its Nosh Pit food court, as well as local retailers and artists in its Market Square and a dedicated LouKidz zone for young music fans.

The festival works closely with Forest Park Forever, Gateway Greening, and Metro, to create a sustainable, green footprint that reduces the carbon emissions of attendees while caring for the beauty of Forest Park.

Regular 2-Day Passes are on sale now through www.loufest.com/tickets. 2-Day tickets remain $95, inclusive of all fees. VIP tickets cost $350 to the LouFest VIP lounge with complimentary beer, wine, and specialty libations all day, catered food servings, air conditioned restrooms and more.

Listen Live Entertainment (LLE) is a St. Louis-based production company that was created in 2009 to produce LouFest, a multiday music festival held in Forest Park. Now in its seventh year, the festival has welcomed over 150,000 music fans to Forest Park’s Central Fields, and has received multiple awards and honors, including being voted as St. Louis’ “Best Music Festival” six years in a row. Listen Live is owned and operated by a team of music and event industry professionals from St. Louis. The LLE team remains committed to its mission to build LouFest into a nationally recognized destination music festival featuring the best of St. Louis music, food, arts and culture all set in the heart of the city, Forest Park.